The Silent Shadow
by Chilaxy Chipe
Summary: She was always thought of as just another pretty face; a quiet, poised girl that had no merits in combat whatsoever. No matter what she did the outcome was the same, proving that discrimination is still alive in a wide variety of places. To what lengths is she willing to go to in order to get a little recognition?


**Please keep in mind that I wrote this a ****_very _****long time ago. At this point Nya really was just a tag-along. She wasn't the samurai, and really had no place in the series other than to pilot their ship. I do have more of this that I can post if anyone wants, just drop a review or PM if you want the rest to be posted.**

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When little Lloyd Garmadon first got captured Nya knew that something about him was different; it was through her advice that Sensei Wu decided to test him. When his role as the green ninja was discovered everything changed among her friends. In a twisted way their journey had only just begun. But it also meant the start of her exile from the group. Nya wasn't terribly integrated before, but with Lloyd to train no one had any spare time to spend with her. No elemental powers or combat prowess? Nothing to contribute.

Even though she knew that she probably wasn't welcome Nya began showing up to every single one of Lloyd's elemental lessons. Zane's ice class was first thing in the morning, so without fail she would be waiting in the room before either him or Lloyd arrived. The strange ice nin was polite to a fault, so he wouldn't ask her to leave if she arrived first.

And thus her education continued, eventually extending to every class except her older brother's. Once upon a time Nya and Kai had been close, so she knew just about everything there was to know about working with fire. Instead of wasting that time the raven haired girl began to train herself harshly during that short window of time. This almost always resulted in her drills going late into the night, limiting the amount of sleep she could get. Her plans and secret workouts continued for weeks without a hitch until one morning she failed to show up to Zane's session with Lloyd one morning. At first it wasn't overly disconcerting to any of the elemental ninja. After all, she wasn't really supposed to be attending in the first place. But when she also missed Jay's a few hours later worry was starting to set in. No one knew where Nya was, and they had no clue where to start looking.

Surprisingly it was Cole who found her; the others had been looking in obvious places like her the kitchen, the cockpit, and her room. Nya was perched on top of one of the tallest poles in the obstacle course fast asleep. When the earth ninja yelled to alert the others of her presence she awoke and graceful jumped to the ground. Awkwardly she stood holding one arm with the opposite hand as Kai, Jay and Zane jogged over.

"Nya why were you sleeping up there?" Kai hissed angrily.

"I was tired obviously," she growled back. "You don't have enough time to care about where I am most of the time why does it matter now?"

"Nya…" He paused as if unsure of his next statement. "Why did you come out here to sleep? Was it some sort of defiance message to me? I'm sorry I haven't been spending much time with you lately, but you know how it is-"

"Kai I did not just come out here to sleep. How shallow do you think I am? I was already here." Voice strained with anger the dark haired girl stomped away, ignoring Jay's attempts to call her back and talk.

"Nya wait!" She continued walking. "There's no one to help you if you get hurt or something, please stop."

With that she turned with a grim look on her face.

"What do you take me for? I may not have your elemental powers, but that doesn't mean I'm a pushover." Seething Nya slammed the door to the hall shut behind her, patience for dealing with the ninja completely spent.

"Jeez she has more of a temper than I remember," muttered Jay dejectedly.

"She can sure chew you guys out!" Cole laughed.

-xXVXx-

Nya knew that she was just "Kai's little sister along for the ride," but that didn't stop her from yearning to be something more. If she was being truthful with herself the only reason she had been going to Lloyd's classes so she would be able to train a student with powers if one stumbled into her later in life. Never in her wildest dreams would she allow herself to believe that she could be gifted with greater powers than her own hard work.

Sighing she decided to go see Sensei Wu. She could ask about getting dropped off somewhere remote where she could reflect on what had happened and contemplate her next move. He called for her to enter mere seconds after knocking on his door, so she did so and posed her question. After a brief moment of silence the old man relented and promised to let her off in Sutaguro Valley. Then to his astonishment the quartet of golden weapons lying on his desk began to glow slightly. It was a faint yellow light; tiny in comparison to the flashing green sparks that were issued whenever Lloyd was around.

Astonished Nya examined the shining weapons. Awe filled her to the core, wondering what could have possibly happened to cause such a simple, yet beautiful reaction.

"You are the silent shadow." Sensei Wu's voice filled the room, even though he was barely speaking louder than a whisper. "The green ninja's keeper than has no formal name on any scroll. Only spoken of in the oldest legends, hushed stories passed down through the generations." His tone wavered and he paused for a second before continuing. "I myself doubted the existence of such a person." Waving off whatever personal doubts he may have been having the man continued with his usual air of wisdom. "You must learn to control the powers that come with this role; _The Bounty_ will return to the Sutaguro Valley in a few days to pick you up." After he finished speaking the man turned away, and Nya took it as a dismissal.

A few minutes later all of her essential items were packed carefully into a small black, gray and red duffel bag. As she made her way out to the deck Nya attempted to comb through all of her scrambled thoughts, unsure if her current choice was the correct one.


End file.
